60%?? I doubt it very much. Perhaps a decently high percentage in the 12-30 age range, but not above, and certainly not below. It all depends on what group of women you’re talking about. I’d actually WAG that the lower end of that age bracket - 12 to 20 perhaps - is the age group to whom push-up-bras and inserts are being marketed to. This is an age group which is likely to have the largest image-related self-esteem issues, with peer and media influence being what it is. High-school and college age girls, surrounded by movies and “cliques” telling them what they should look like. I would hope that most of these girls grow out of it, as they figure themselves out, find a lover, start a career and family, etc.
I have never stuffed my bras, and the most padding I’ve ever had in a bra was in a strapless, that was made thicker in order for it to actually have any supporting use at all. To my knowledge, none of my family or friends stuff their bras, though I know a couple of friends tried it when they were younger, and before they had breasts to speak of.
Perhaps its a sensitive issue, and that’s why there’s kind of a mystery as to none of the dopers here admit to it, nor do they definitively know anyone who actively stuffs (yosemitebabe, the “you STUFF!” accusation sounded absolutely hilarious. Maybe you should have showed them what you really had, but then again, I suppose that would just give them a different reason to harass you )
I’m not accusing any dopers of lying about stuffing, its just a theory that it probably isn’t going to be widely known because its something people would probably find embarassing to admit.
I’ve never stuffed a bra, I’ve never felt the need to. I do sometimes wear a push-up bra for enhanced cleavage and boy, does it get plenty of attention!
Bra stuffing certainly isn’t a new concept. Last year, I helped put together an exhibit of Victorian clothing for the musem at which I work.
When dressing one dummy, I noticed something odd about a bodice. It had two side-ways pockets sewn inside. For a long moment, I wondered what they were for, and then it hit me. I had to go get my co-workers to come and look at the “falsie pockets.” I found them in several other dresses in storage, from various eras.
I occasionally wear padded push-up bras. I must be someone they market them to. Am I the only one on this board? I use it to get better cleavage when I’m wearing a really low-cut shirt. It’s like wearing a nice Tudor corset with Tudor period clothes. It just gives me the right shape.
I am a 32 year old…with a chest that closely resembles an 11 year old boy…so boy was I excited when I found the gel filled bras at Target! Yahooooooooooo, I almost feel girly! Though they feel like I have a ten pound weight attached to my bony chest…it is worth it! So I don’t stuff, but I sure do use enhancements…Margo
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*Originally posted by Guinastasia *
My bras have a thin layer of padding, but only to provide adequate coverage-meaning, to avoid nipples showing through. (Sorry boys, I think it looks tacky!)
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Now that is really unfortunate. There is nothing that can stimulate me more than to observe perky nipples underneath a T shirt, particularly when attached to small but firm breasts. I need a shower.
I don’t think anyone’s going to admit to “stuffing” their bra because we’ve all been indoctrinated to think that stuffing a bra is bad. There are ways to add size, but they’re never going to be marketed as a way to “stuff your bra.”
Mrs. Seng used some silicone inserts in her wedding-day corset (they went below her breasts for a push-up effect) and she always wears padded bras, but largely as armor against careless folks’ elbows and such. She doesn’t wear push-up bras or use inserts, except that once. More’s the pity.
One of my major bra complaints that I can’t ever find any in my size that don’t already have built-in boobs! I’m really thin and small-chested, I couldn’t tell you my size offhand and I’m not whipping my bra off to check… but it seems like all bras now have padding or those little insert thingies in them (like a pocket w/a removable little pad thingy) and it makes me feel… conspicuous! For my weight and small frame, I’d look ridiculous with a padded bra.
I was once accused, in the 8th grade, of stuffing my bra. I was deathly embarrassed, as well as puzzled, since I was flat.
I wear medium padded bras, and I stuffed when I was more self concious about my mini-boobs. They’re not big by any means, but any guy who’s seen em or whatnot hasn’t been “whoa. those are some tiny breasts!”. So I either wear lined or medium padded bras, unless I’m wearing something that needs va-va-va-voom. I have a corset top and a corset-style dress that need "va-va-va-voom, and that’s about it. Usually accomplished by stuffing to some effect, and praying nothing shifts too much.
I wear a padded push-up bra anytime I want cleavage, as aside from my Victorian corset, it is the only way I can get cleavage. I lost about 20 lbs since last December and a good portion of that seems to have gone from my boobs. I am hoping that when I drop a few more I will eventually be able to go without entirely, as I kind of like the way they look squished bra-less under a really tight, thin t-shirt.
Count me as another one in the don’t need to/don’t want to camp I’ve never had to wear a push up bra either, as I appear to have natural cleavage as well.
Please don’t hurt me…
I do know of a couple of women who’ve been tempted to stuff their bras, mainly to ensure that the line of their clothes worked well, since Indian clothes are generally designed to work well on a woman with a lot in the chest area, and if you don’t have it, some cuts can look really really bad.
An ex of mine used to wear padded bras under her “professional” clothing (she worked in a lawyer’s office).
She claimed that the enhancement made the clothing fit & look better.
Personally, I think it was an excuse - I think she just liked having more than her usual “A” cup. In her defense, she had the lower body of a curvy woman just not the upper body. It did make her look more “balanced”.
I see ALOT of Bra stuffing, As I’m in High school. Heh. Its raining today, and one girl was wearing a white shirt and a see through bra. Her weapon of choice was kleenex. The poor girl didn’t even know that we could see the wads of tissue through her shirt…
I have to say that sometimes, I’m jealous of them… I hate having the amount of boobs that I have. Hell, they even named them… The Mississippi and the Nile. Both unusually large and go in opposite directions.
I don’t even see the point of Push up bra’s that come in a size c or higher… I don’t understand how some womenm with big breasts want them bigger. Its just… shudder.
I hate having boobs. They get in the way. they’re a nuisance.
sorry for the hijack…
Magic8Ball, I’m only 19 but I honestly had no freakin’ clue that high school girls stuffed their bras. It was always verboten, an accusation reserved for girls you didn’t like, something your mother did, and no one seemed to visibly stuff. I think back on the lost years of high school now a little wistfully knowing I may have been able to enhance my goods a little and not have been alone.
)
I’ve never had to wear a push up bra either, as I appear to have natural cleavage as well.